Hourglass
by superduperizee
Summary: "What would you do to me, turn me to a cat?" "I wouldn't do that. Turning you into a neko would be too mainstream!" Gray meets Juvia's fairy godmother and, uh, Let's just say she's on Erza's side. Gruvia.


Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

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Hourglass

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Crocus was too busy a city to find solace and peace. Everyone kept pacing back and forth, doing business over here and over there, selling their merchandise to earn a damn good profit.

And Gray Fullbuster was getting tired of all the noises the surrounding was giving him. Sure, he grew up in a guild where noise is classified as their background music, but sometimes he sought serenity, a time when he could just let his mind fly away freely and get lost in the quietness of the night.

Finally, after four days of deafening cheers from the audience of the Grand Magic Games, rowdy bar fights with his overly active fellow guild members and a series of annoying banters with Lyon whenever the Daimatou Enbu called it a day, the ice mage found a time for himself to relax, without anyone or anything bothering him.

Fairy Tail had been stressed out the whole week, especially this day. So many things came about and they were definitely not good things. First there was this Sabertooth girl that tortured Lucy in that Naval sphere, then they've met a weird dragon from that underground graveyard and even talked to them. After that, another weird dude came, explaining things about a gate that could stop Zeref and all the fucked-up deeds the dark mage had done and then there was an old man who came, opposing the other man, ordering the soldiers to capture him along with Lucy and that other celestial spirit mage.

So as soon as they reached the Honey Bone Inn, the participants, together with Makarov and Mavis wasted no time to devise a plan, forming strategies on how to win the games and please the higher-ups in order to get their friend back. They also formed a rescue team to which an agitated Natsu was in. everyone was in it to save a friend and to bring back the glory in Fairy Tail's name.

As a preparation for tomorrow, which he knew was going to be troublesome and exhausting considering the type of tournament chosen, Gray let his feet take him to some place tranquil enough to meditate.

It took him half an hour to get away from Juvia and Lyon's excessive word vomit about romance. He told himself that he was becoming good at getting away from them.

But was running away from them do him any good?

He took a sit on a bench near a fountain in a park. The place was empty, but you could hear the faint streams of water nearby. Probably the Ryuuzetsu Land, the resort they'd wrecked last night, was within the area.

Events from yesterday filled his mind, how one moment he refused to ride that love slide with Juvia and even so he went with her and unfortunately, Lyon, all the way up there; and the next moment, he was pretty much disappointed that he slid down with his fellow ice mage instead of her.

"Argh!" He grumbled, wanting to pull his hair off of his scalp. "I shouldn't even be thinking about this!"

Just then, he heard a scoff, one that came from a feminine voice.

"You're really a confused kid, aren't you?"

Gray turned to his side, surprised by the fact that he was not alone anymore and that he didn't feel her presence. Was he that engrossed with what he's thinking that he's not even aware with what was happening around him?

"Who are you?"

The lady smirked at him, playing with her fingers. "Well, good evening to you too, Gray."

Gray blinked. She knew his name. Last time he checked, he didn't know some woman who's about in her late forties, had short and curly lavender hair, and brown doe-shaped eyes, clad in a fluffy sea green dress.

And what bother Gray the most was the fact that, and he wasn't even lying about this one, she's sparkling.

SHE'S.

FREAKING.

SPARKLING.

_SPARKLING._

The only people Gray knew sparkled that way were Loke, the Trimens and Lyon—when he's trying to gain Juvia's attention.

Oh, look where his mind drifted off to again.

"You're mind thinking about Juvia, boy?"

—And she could read minds, too.

The young man backed away from her, trying to fight the blush that desperately wanted to stain his cheeks.

"I—what… how—?" lost for words, he could only stare at the older lady as her sparkles diminished until she looked normal, just like him.

She looked like a mother figure, with a sweet voice and a stern look directed at Gray.

"Hi. My name is Iantha and I'm Juvia's fairy godmother."

The ice mage gave her another look and nodded to himself. Maybe that explained her sparkling nature. And although her appearance passed up for all fairy godmother figures in Levy's collection of children's books, he clearly took notice that she didn't own a wand.

"You don't own a wand." He dumbly said, pointing out the obvious.

Iantha sighed and shook her head at his comment. "Yes dear, I'm aware of that."

"And you say you're a fairy godmother?"

Was this guy doubted her authenticity to be one?!

"Uh huh. Fairy godmothers or godfathers don't need that kind of devices. Children's books should take note of that." And to prove she was indeed an ethereal being, she pointed her finger at the sculpted angel over the fountain, with pixie dust enveloping it and surprisingly, the former motionless statue was now dancing around where it used to stand, with a creepy smile and hollow eyes that nerved Gray to no end.

He stared at her for seconds, astonished. "You're Juvia's fairy godmother." Gray was talking more to himself than to her.

"And—"

"Yeah, yeah. Enough of that, darling. I need to talk to you about other things, if you haven't noticed by now." Iantha waved him off as she cut his speech. She wanted this to end as quickly and as smoothly as possible, with satisfactory results.

Apparently, Gray was confused with his situation and the change of facial expressions had not gone unnoticed by his female companion.

"But I'm not Juvia. You shouldn't be talking to me!" He came here alone to clear off his mind and someone just has to disturb him. So much about running away earlier.

Rolling her eyes, Iantha crossed her arms and frowned. This young boy was sure like his fairy godfather. "First of all, I talk to people who I want to talk to and nobody could tell me otherwise. Second, my vision is still 20/20 for me to have mistaken you as her." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Besides, as Juvia's savior from those nasty rain clouds, you became an extension of her being, too. I'm here to talk about your relationship with her. You're obviously involved."

He put his palms on his temples and let out a breath. He didn't like where this was going.

"No, no, no. We, Juvia and I, we don't have that kind of relationship. Friendship, yes, but roman—"

"Honey, suck it up. Don't keep denying everything." For a moment, Gray was silent, pinching his nose to calm his senses. Was he going to be cut all night long by this woman? "You know you'd be chased by these types of things the moment you saved her from her personal darkness."

Great. Just great. The other day, Erza lectured him about being resolute and all, how he had to give Juvia straightforward responses. And now, some fairy godmother would do the same. When would he hear the end of it?

Realizing he was not going to talk any time soon, Iantha tried to be a little more playful and casted her magic on him. He covered her in pixie dust and she laughed out loud when her magic had taken effect.

Gray felt something on his forehead, like something hanging on them. He also felt something slightly heavy on his back. When he tried to touch them, he was mortified.

He had butterfly wings and an antenna.

"What did you do to me?!" he shouted, trying to remove all the extensive parts of his body she had given to him.

"I'm seeking your attention. Stop spacing out." Iantha suppressed another laugh. She was proud of her masterpiece.

Rubbing his face with his face and irritated by her behavior, he readied himself for the talk. There's no way out of it but through it anyways. "Fine. Fine! I'll talk, just… get these things off of my body!"

Staring at him one last time to admire her work of art, Iantha erased the spell with the flick of her fingers. Gray sighed, content that they he had no longer freaky colorful wings and antenna.

"Alright," She was pleased that he was cooperating with her. She didn't want to get this out of hand and turn him fully into another creature. "First things first. I don't like the way you've been treating Juvia before. Always nonchalant." The strict look she gave her meant that she was serious about this. "But now, it has been progressing to a way positive path, so, congratulations for that." She loved giving lectures to young people. Iantha wanted Gray to know that the slightest negative reaction from him hurt the fragile heart of the water mage.

"Before, you're body language and your voice tells her when you're annoyed and when you're not welcoming her presence. How would you feel is she started ignoring you like that? "

Gray groaned. "What's this, a psychological therapy or something?"

"Just shut up and listen to me first." She spat. "Or do you want me to cast a permanent spell on you to have those girly butterfly wings again."

He shut his mouth after that.

Iantha the fairy godmother may be in her forties, but her sassiness rivaled that of a teenager like him.

He ruffled his hair and made weird, unnatural pouts with his lips. "Of course I'll get annoyed. Nobody wants to be ignored like that."

Relaxing her arms and putting them at her sides, Iantha smiled. "Exactly."

Gray averted his gaze from her. Now, he felt bad. All those times he shook her crazy antics and over-the-top confessions and waved them off was making her sad. And although she tried to hide it because being gloomy was just a thing of her past, it didn't change the fact that his actions hurt her one way or another. Gray made her sad without noticing because he was indifferent with it.

He mentally reminded himself to apologize to her.

His train of thought was disturbed by Iantha's voice again. "next, with all the things that has happened between the two of you all the development you've been making— don't try to deny it again— shouldn't you at least give her a clear cut response?" she waved her hands in the air, passionate about making her point. "I'm a woman Gray, and I damn well know that not having the assurance that a man likes you back is not the most satisfying feeling in the world."

By this time, Gray crossed his arms already and held his breath. This subject was so touchy to him he didn't know how to address it.

And what's the best come back he could say to Iantha with a statement like that?

"You're starting to sound like Erza to me."

She gave him a blank look before straightening her posture. "Well, I'll take that as a compliment." Releasing her magic to pull out a big tree out of its roots, the mystical woman gave him a menacing look. "Oh and believe me, I could get as scary as her when you push the wrong buttons."

He flinched at that. Gray didn't need another Erza beating the crap out of him.

"Look, I'm not ready, okay? Whatever I feel about her, I'm not ready to tell her yet. I have to make sure that when I reciprocate her feelings, it's anything but half-assed. I don't want to see her cry because of a guy, especially not because of me!" He stood up, giving Juvia's fairy godmother his answer, his hands gesturing that he was anything but pleased with this conversation. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he practically admittedly he liked a girl. And to a girl's fairy godmother nonetheless.

Iantha stared at him while playing with the water fountain with her magic. "So you don't have plans to tell her anytime soon?"

"I don't freaking know! When the right time comes, it'll happen!" he was pulling his hair so hard he swore his head will hurt once he took a shower.

She stopped playing with the water and averted her gaze to the heavens. "You're frustrating, you know." Iantha stood up and faced him. "What if you ran out of time? You'll never know Fate's design."

An unsettling feeling in his gut came about when she said those words. Something about it was nerve-wracking and although Gray liked the cold, he did not like the momentary chill that passed up his body.

Iantha was once again releasing pixie dust from who knows where, while poking Gray in the chest.

"Stop that! Don't turn me into another insect of your choice!"

He saw how short she was when she's standing. She didn't stop her peculiar actions.

"The least you could tell her is to wait for you."

Letting out a growl, he closed his eyes and shouted incoherent curses. The ice mage walked back and forth repeatedly before he glared at her.

Why can't people accept that he wanted to do this 'progression thing' with Juvia at his own pace?

With the flick of her fingers, an hourglass appeared in front of them, glowing and sparkling, just like how Iantha sparkled a while back. It was of medium size, and the first thing that passed on his mind when he saw it was that the grains of the sand would all be on the opposite side of the hourglass after three to four hours.

"I'm giving you a week to tell her to wait for you to be on the same page." She handed the device to him. Boy, was it heavy. "If after a week you don't tell her what she needs to hear from you, prepare yourself for my rage."

"Tsk." He was belittling her warning, even after all the things she had done with her surroundings throughout the night. "What would you do to me, turn me to a cat?"

Iantha's eyes widened and she huffed. "NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Gray, no, no, no, no, no! NO!" she told him over and over again, each 'no' having a different pitch from the other. "I wouldn't do that. Turning you to a neko would be too mainstream!"

"Then what would you turn me into?" Gray shouted. He was challenging her. He could get permanent butterfly wings with what she's doing right now.

When a stray cat passed by them, Iantha casted her magic on the poor animal, turning it into a horse. "You damn well know what I can turn you into." She looked fiercely at him. "Fullbuster, you better know who you're dealing with."

_Holy shit!_ He thought. He just signed his death deal with a fairy godmother.

He just wished that before he died, this fairy would acknowledge the fact that he was a fairy as well.

And a different kind of fairy at that.

The woman smirked at him, pleased with the reaction she generated. The woman put her hands on her hips. "Try to be stubborn Gray, and I'll turn you into Juvia's replica doll of you." When she saw that he was bewildered to know that information, she continued. "Oh yes, she has one. In fact, she carries it with her when she's taking a bath and you'd just be there, tortured by the fact that such a beauty is naked in front of you and you can't even close your eyes because of embarrassment. That, or you would get frustrated because you couldn't join her as she cleans herself off."

Gray was red in the face as his jaw dropped with her latest threats.

"You! YOU! YOU ARE SUCH AN EVIL BEING!" it was all he had managed to say. His imagination got the better of him and they're too X-rated to voice them out. Gray swore his nose bled and the temperature got unpleasantly hot.

Iantha was laughing at him, amused by his reactions. "I'm taking my leave. Take care of Juvia." With that, she floated and sparkled in gold and silver, and slowly she faded away. "Remember this conversation, kid."

In a matter of seconds, he was alone again in the park.

He tried to tell himself that everything that had happened was just a dream; a figment of his imagination. But the hourglass in his hands told him otherwise.

Time. Iantha gave him time to figure things out by himself. Time's precious and crucial for everybody and he's not gonna be some jerk to throw it away easily. Gray lived in the present, not in the past, not in the future. So he'll spend the gift of time with his friends and loved ones, and enjoy his odd moments with Juvia.

The grains in the hourglass started to fall on the other side. He walked away from the park, feeling the need to be back at their inn to rest for tomorrow. He needed—they needed to ace the tournament.

On his way to the hotel where Fairy Tail stayed, the only thing that crept him out in the middle of the night were the still dancing statue of an angel and the sound of a purring horse behind him.

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End.

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Hi! So I found this in my hard drive and decided to edit it and post it online. I'm having a writing spree these past few weeks, but damn, editing fanfictions are really hard to do. I tried to let this be as humorous as possible.

Anyway, I hoped you liked Juvia's fairy godmother Iantha. She's pretty much the embodiment of all the Gruvia shippers out there, always telling Gray to admit that there's something more other than friendship between him and Juvia.

This could pass up as a one shot, but if I find the need to write more, I'll continue this.

I have other stories prepared for the week, so if you're interested, you could check them out.

If you any find mistakes, please point them out and I'll edit them. I'll be grateful with your help.

Oh, please leave a review if you liked this one shot. They are always appreciated. :D


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